On Monday, January 23, 2012, hundreds of citizens from all over New York State converged upon Albany to demand that our elected representatives safeguard our water resources, air quality, environment and public health from hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The citizens, including Riverkeeper staff members, traveled to the capitol at their own expense to meet face-to-face with state Assembly Members and Senators and solicit support for legislation which would ban outright or postpone fracking until its health, environmental, and economic impacts are studied.
Citizens rally against fracking on Monday, January 23, 2011, at the capitol in Albany. Photos courtesy Jessica Riehl
The day of action began with people flooding the well of the Legislative Office Building for a rally in which both Republican and Democratic elected officials voiced their strong opposition to fracking in New York. The legislators included State Senators Tony Avella, Greg Ball, and Liz Krueger, as well as Assembly Members William Colton and Robert Sweeney, among others. They were joined by three-time Academy Award®-nominated actress Debra Winger; Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award®-nominated documentary Gasland, along with a number of leaders from environmental non-profit organizations.
After the rally, volunteers headed upstairs to discuss the detrimental impacts of fracking with Senators and Assembly Members. Some elected officials pledged to oppose fracking and support alternative energy initiatives. NY Water Rangers, a coalition of environmental groups including Riverkeeper, issued a press release, including a summary of the bills, available here.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation is currently reviewing and responding to over 40,000 comments (an unprecedented number) on its most recent proposal to allow fracking in New York. This is a crucial time period to ensure the DEC will not move forward with fracking unless and until we can be sure that it can be done safely. Help us keep the pressure on Governor Cuomo! Contact him now and tell him to champion clean renewable energy sources instead of toxic fracking.
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- Citizens rally against fracking on Monday, January 23, 2011, at the capitol in Albany. Photos courtesy Jessica Riehl
Dimock, PA residents, whose wells were contaminated by Cabot Oil & Gas’s fracking operations, will receive some relief today when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delivers clean water to four of the eleven families that have been victims of irresponsible fracking. These families have gone without a reliable source of water since November 30, when the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) allowed Cabot to stop its weekly shipments of fresh water. Since then, Riverkeeper has featured a counter on our website documenting the months, days, hours, and seconds PA DEP and Cabot have denied families the basic human right of clean water (a count we will continue until these families have a long-term solution).
EPA is still collecting data in Dimock, and we hope that EPA will decide soon to deliver water to all of the affected residents.
The victory today in Dimock reminds us of why it is so important for New York not to rush to permit fracking. Even though the comment period on New York’s fracking proposal is over, you can still take action.
Call Governor Cuomo today – (518) 474-8390 – and tell him that you don’t want what has happened in Dimock to happen here.
Then, commit to calling him every Friday to tell him you don’t want anyone to frack with your New York water.
This morning, thanks to many of you, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) woke up to tens of thousands of comments on its flawed fracking proposal. Riverkeeper submitted three sets of comments, all of which conclude that New York State’s fracking proposal is too fatally flawed to move forward.
Riverkeeper submitted individual comments (pdf 180K) underscoring six fundamental flaws in the state’s fracking proposal that pose a major threat to the NYC Watershed and, in turn, the drinking supply for nine million of New Yorkers.
We also worked along with our coalition partners, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Earthjustice, Catskill Mountainkeeper, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and a talented set of experienced experts to prepare over 600 pages of detailed technical comments (pdf 9MB) calling out some of the most significant deficiencies in the state’s draft fracking review and regulations. These range from the state’s failure to adequately address toxic and hazardous wastewater to its complete omission of the negative economic impacts associated with fracking.
The coalition also prepared detailed comments calling out the legal and policy problems (pdf 3.6MB) with DEC’s fracking proposal.
NYSDEC is obligated to review and prepare responses to all of the issues raised in the comments, which is likely to take months. In the meantime, there is still much you can do as we focus our efforts on persuading state legislators to take action on fracking.
Riverkeeper and its partners are organizing a Fracking Day of Action to lobby New York lawmakers at the state capital in Albany at the opening of the legislative session. Register, and plan to join us on Monday, Jan. 23, to tell the state legislature what you think of fracking.
The New York Water Rangers, a partnership of environmental and community groups working to protect the state’s waters and communities from the dangers of industrial gas drilling called hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” this month launched a TV commercial designed to get the issue some much-deserved attention.
The New York Water Rangers campaign is supported by a network of organizations working to protect the rights and health of New Yorkers and one of our most precious environmental resources-water-from the dangers of irresponsible, poorly regulated, and under-inspected natural gas exploration and development. The campaign is supported by Catskill Mountainkeeper, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Earthjustice, EARTHWORKS Oil & Gas Accountability Project, Environment New York, Fleased, Natural Resources Defense Council, Otsego 2000, and Riverkeeper. Visit www.CleanWaterNotDirtyDrilling.org to learn more.
Image on right courtesy WVSORO.org
Comment on DEC fracking proposals by Jan. 11
The state has drafted a deeply flawed environmental impact study and regulations for fracking in New York, and state officials need to hear from the public—now! Review our 10 Major Flaws with New York’s Fracking Plan, and then see our commenting guide to do your part. The comment deadline is Wednesday, Jan. 11 and comments being sent in the mail must be postmarked by this date.
Host a fracking comment party
Magnify your impact by gathering your friends and colleagues for a fracking comment party. Share information from our fact sheet or public presentation on fracking. Just make sure all comments reach the DEC by Jan. 11.
Join the Fracking Day of Action
Riverkeeper and its partners are organizing a Fracking Day of Action to lobby New York lawmakers at the state capital in Albany. Register, and plan to join us on Monday, Jan. 23.
Donate to Riverkeeper
Contribute to Riverkeeper’s Watershed Program to support our legal team as they respond in detail to the DEC’s voluminous fracking proposals. We pledge to keep fighting until we are confident that both our water quality and our quality of life are protected.
As the year winds down, Riverkeeper celebrates the Don’t Frack with NY community for what we have achieved this year. We have accomplished a lot recently – the Delaware River Basin Commission suspended its vote on its gas drilling regulations in November and, in December, the U.S. EPA acknowledged for the first time that there is a link between fracking and water contamination. However, our biggest battles are still ahead, and there remains a lot to be done to protect New York’s residents and our water.
You have until Jan. 11, 2012 to submit your comments on New York’s fracking proposal. A great way to use the time between now and then is to host a comment writing party with your community, so you can share ideas and educate others who might not be familiar with NY’s proposal.
Here’s our how to:
(1) Invite friends, family, or community members to your home or a local gathering space to learn more about fracking and how to submit comments on New York’s fracking proposal. You can learn more about fracking by reviewing our presentation.
(2) Distribute some how-to’s at the party. Riverkeeper has published a comment guide, fact sheet on fracking and a list of the Top 10 Flaws with NY’s Fracking Proposal.
(3) Bring some paper, pens, envelopes and stamps for people to send their comments. Please mail your comments by Saturday, Jan. 7 to ensure their timely delivery by Jan. 11. If you are tech-savvy, you can also invite people to bring their laptops so that they can submit their comments online.
Why you should act now:
Albany could permit companies to frack in NY starting as early as 2012— and we now know the horror story that can result from fracking activities. Families in Dimock, PA have had their wells destroyed by fracking and have yet to have their water restored.
Have questions or plan on hosting a fracking comment party? Contact Riverkeeper Membership & Events Manager Dan Shapley at dshapley@riverkeeper.org. We’d love to post good stories about your efforts on the blog or just hear what you have planned.
Imagine walking down the streets of Manhattan and bumping up against a well pad every 20 blocks.
Earthjustice recently published this map to help Manhattanites understand the implications of fracking upstate.
Earthjustice explained: “If fracking goes forward in New York State, some areas will see very intensive drilling. The attached map shows the estimated well pad density for Tioga, Chemung, and Broome Counties in upstate New York – based on DEC’s own assumptions – as overlaid on a map of Manhattan. This 320-acre spacing is necessary to accommodate the assumed number of wells under DEC’s ‘average’ development scenario, with six wells on every pad. We initially thought that DEC’s projection was a mistake but were told that it was accurate, because it presupposes drilling in multiple layers of shale – not just the Marcellus. In fact, DEC admitted that the density could be greater.”
Each well pad comes complete with around-the-clock noise from heavy machinery, thousands of trucks, and millions of gallons of toxic water injected underground. Our pristine upstate counties will become an industrial wasteland. Please tell the DEC by January 11 what you think of their fracking proposal!
View more images on our Flickr site
Riverkeeper was proud to stand alongside our fellow advocates and concerned citizens in delivering much needed water to fracking victims in Dimock, Pennsylvania. This delivery was especially poignant because the clean water in the 5,700 gallon truck was sourced from the New York City Watershed.
Cabot Oil & Gas destroyed the water supplies of 11 families in Dimock when it began fracking for natural gas there in 2008. The families’ water supplies became contaminated, making it impossible for them to drink as well as do normal, everyday things such as take a bath, clean the dishes or simply wash their hands. Their water has been found to contain hazardous levels of methane gas, heavy metals, radioactive material and other toxic chemicals such as ethylene glycol – also known as antifreeze.
On November 30, Cabot ceased making clean water deliveries to the Dimock families with approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), even though earlier this year, the agency found them to be at fault for the contamination.
Clean water is a resource we’ve all been guilty of taking for granted. What we witnessed in Dimock paints a portrait of what it would be like to live in a “fracked New York” and drives the human toll of fracking home to us all.
Look for the upcoming “Cabot Counter” on the Riverkeeper website that will tally the number of days the families in Dimock are denied water delivery from Cabot Gas and Oil; the water that is their basic human right, water they now have to pay for.
We urge everyone to get their comments on the proposed fracking regulations and environmental impact statement to Governor Cuomo and Commissioner Martens by January 11, 2012 and to call on them to heed the lessons learned in places like Dimock before it is too late.
(NYC & Dimock, PA)— It wasn’t a flood or natural disaster that left more than a dozen families in Dimock, PA without clean drinking water. The disaster in Dimock was caused by the Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation’s use of the hazardous gas drilling method known as fracking. Since 2008 the well water of eleven families has been contaminated with toxic chemicals, flammable gas, and radioactive material.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Conservation found Cabot to be at fault for the contamination, and for the past three years the gas company has been forced to supply weekly deliveries of drinking water to the families. But last month, the PA DEP cut a deal with Cabot, allowing them to stop the water deliveries as of November 30th—leaving the Dimock families with only the toxic, flammable water that has given them headaches and caused skin sores, with the potential for serious long term health effects.
With their last water delivery quickly running out, citizens throughout the region have stepped in to help. On December 6th, Mark Ruffalo, actor and founder of Water Defense, and Gasland Director Josh Fox will join other advocates to deliver clean drinking water from New York State to the eleven Dimock families.
*Press event will be held on the steps of City Hall at 9:30am, with buses bringing NYC water to Dimock, arriving at 2:30pm for second press event.
Who: Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are Alright), Josh Fox (Gasland), Dimock fracking victims, Craig & Julie Sautner, NYC City Council, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Water Defense, United for Action, National Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Catskill Mountainkeeper, and Delaware Riverkeepers
What: Celebrities, Advocates bring pristine New York Water to Dimock, PA fracking victims
Where: NYC Press Event @ 9:30am
Steps of City Hall, Manhattan, NY
Dimock, PA Press Event @ 2:30pm
Home of fracking victims, Craig & Julie Saunter
1101 Carter Road, Dimock, PA
When: Tuesday, December 6th
Schedule:
9:30am NYC Press Event on City Hall Steps
10:30pm Buses with celebrities, advocates bringing NYC water depart for Dimock
2:30pm Dimock, PA Press Conference where advocates will replenish water tanks
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On November 10, 2011, the industry-dominated U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) advisory panel on fracking released its second report, which expressed mild frustration at the pace of government and industry’s efforts to implement the panel’s August 2011 recommendations. “Progress to date is less than the Subcommittee hoped,” the panel asserted, “and it is not clear how to catalyze action at a time when everyone’s attention is focused on economic issues, the press of daily business, and an upcoming election.”
The report again validated many of the environmental and health concerns that have been raised by environmental groups and other industry watchdogs. The panel, composed mostly of experts with close ties to the shale gas extraction industry, reiterated its finding that “concerted and sustained action is needed to avoid excessive environmental impacts of shale gas production.”
The panel specifically criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) recently proposed air pollution limits related to shale gas drilling because the rules do not directly control methane emissions or cover currently existing shale gas sources. The report also noted that the present arrangement of shared federal and state responsibility for cradle-to-grave water quality is not working as well as it should. For instance, there has not been enough progress in baseline testing of water around shale gas wells before they are drilled, noting the lack of a clear division of authority over water wells between state, local, and federal governments.
Despite the obstacles to action, the panel did highlight small progress made in implementing its recommendations including:
• The Department of Interior intends to require disclosure of all chemicals in fracturing fluid used on federal lands, not just those that appear on Material Safety Data Sheets.
• On October 20, 2011 EPA announced a schedule for setting wastewater discharge standards that will affect some shale gas production activities.
The panel acknowledged 90 days wasn’t sufficient time to fully implement its recommendations, but pointed out that early application of certain steps would help further the process and could encourage the adoption of the more complicated proposals in their report. ”To ensure the full benefits to the American people, environmental issues need to be addressed now—especially in terms of waste water, air quality and community impact,” said Panel Chairman John Deutch in a statement.
Environmentalists, though optimistic about the panel’s findings, continue to criticize the panel for its failure to address the health impacts associated with fracking.
View the complete report.